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Istanbul-Armenian writer Sevan Nisanyan: Erdogan’s regime cannot last long

July 20, 2017 By administrator

Istanbul-Armenian writer Sevan Nisanyan: Erdogan's regime cannot last long Turkey is a terrible prison everybody wants to escape, well-known Istanbul Armenian writer Sevan Nisanyan told Arevelk news agency.

“Everyone is imprisoned there. I do not know whether they think like me or not, but when you speak to people, the main part will say that it is not a place to live. Turkey is a terrible prison,” he noted, adding that many people want to leave the country, but there are difficulties: they do not know the language, they do not have money, they have no idea where to go and what to do.

“But when they find a way, they will definitely go to Europe, Australia, Africa, Armenia and Syria,” he said.

Speaking about Turkey’s ruling regime, Nisanyan emphasized that Erdogan’s regime cannot last long. According to him, the current government will leave eventually, and it will be very difficult to restore the country’s collapsed system.

Nishanyan expressed hope that the Turkish authorities will hardly make any attempt to return him: “They wanted me to leave. They told me not to speak, but I’ll speak.”

With regard to Turkish prisons, Nisanyan noted that choice of food was very limited, while the area was incredibly small. Prisons were very crowded, that is why prisoners are exposed to double stress

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Istanbul-Armenian, Sevan Nişanyan, writer

Turkish Writer Exposes Persecution of Jews in Turkey

May 4, 2017 By administrator

by Harut Sassounian, Publisher, The California Courier,

Israel National News published an extremely interesting article written by Turkish journalist Uzay Bulut on the discrimination and persecution that Turkish Jews have suffered since the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923.
 This is an important exposé since the Turkish government has gone to great lengths for many decades to deceive the international community that there is great tolerance for Jews in Turkish and that Jews lived in a democratic society which protected their civil and religious rights. The aim of this Turkish propaganda campaign was two-fold: To keep Israeli leaders and American Jews happy so they would support Turkish interests in Washington and enlist the political lobbying clout of American Jews in Washington to counter congressional efforts to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
 The Turkish government back in 1992 commemorated with a big splash the 500th anniversary of Jews fleeing from Spain and relocating in Turkey. Ankara co-opted many of the Jewish community leaders, including the Chief Rabbi, into propagating this false historical narrative. When I wrote an editorial back then exposing the lies of that celebration, I got a letter from the head of the commemorative events, asking why I wanted to cast a negative light on their celebration.
 Interestingly, that Jewish leader did not contest any of the facts in my article on the persecution of Jews in the Ottoman Empire throughout the centuries.
 Bulut’s article is significant because it describes the persecution of Jews not centuries ago but during our own times in ‘modern’ Turkey! The article begins with a news item from the Turkish Milliyet newspaper reporting that dozens of historic Jewish synagogues “run the risk of disappearing forever.”
 One of the main reasons why these synagogues are disappearing is that the majority of the Jewish community of Turkey has departed from Turkey fleeing from “systematic discrimination and campaigns of forced Turkification and Islamization.” Bulut reports that in 1923, at the beginning of the Turkish Republic, there were 81,454 Jews in Turkey. That number has dwindled to “fewer than 15,000.” The last of Jewish schools was shut down by the Turkish government in 1937, according to Bulut.
 Here is the list of the major episodes of Turkish persecution and discrimination against Jews and other non-Turkish minorities in recent decades, as compiled by Turkish journalist Bulut:
— The Turkish Law of Family adopted in 1934 forced Jews and other non-Turks to abandon their ethnic names and adopt Turkish sounding names.
— “Jews were deprived of their freedom of movement at least three times: in 1923, 1925 and 1927.” Bulut also mentions that “during the Holocaust, Turkey opened its doors to very few Jewish and political refugees and even took measures to prevent Jewish immigration in 1937.”
— Hate speech and anti-Semitic comments are very prevalent in Turkish society and the media. Activities in support of Israel by the Jewish community were banned by the Republic of Turkey.
— The Turkish government has assigned secret code numbers to individuals of Jewish, Armenian and Greek descent. That way the government can track them down and expose their background when necessary.
— “Laws that excluded Jews and other non-Muslims from certain professions:” The Republic of Turkey banned these minorities from holding government positions. “Thousands of non-Muslims lost their jobs,” according to Bulut.
— Prohibition of the use in public of all languages except Turkish. The “Citizen Speak Turkish” campaign in the first years of the Republic mainly targeted the Jewish community, according to Rifat Bali, the leading scholar of Turkish Jewry.
— “The Jews of Eastern Thrace were targeted by pogroms from June 21-July 4, 1934. These began with a boycott of Jewish businesses, and were followed by physical attacks on Jewish-owned buildings, which were first looted, then set on fire. Jewish men were beaten, and some Jewish women reportedly raped. Terrorized by this turn of events, more than 15,000 Jews fled the region.”
— The conscription of non-Muslims in the Turkish Army (1941-42). “On April 22, 1941, 12,000 non-Muslims (also known as “the twenty classes”), including Jewish men — even the blind and physically disabled — were conscripted. But instead of doing active service, they were sent to work in labor battalions under terrible conditions for the construction of roads and airports. Some of them lost their lives or caught diseases.”
— “On Nov. 11, 1942, the Turkish government enacted the Wealth Tax Law, which divided the taxpayers in four groups, as per their religious backgrounds: Muslims, non-Muslims, converts (‘donme’), i.e. members of a Sabbatean sect of Jewish converts to Islam, and foreign nationals. Only 4.94 percent of Turkish Muslims had to pay the Wealth Tax. The Armenians were the most heavily taxed, followed by Jews. According to the scholar Başak İnce, ‘the underlying reason was the elimination of minorities from the economy, and the replacement of the non-Muslim bourgeoisie by its Turkish counterpart.’”
— “During the 6-7 September 1955 government-instigated attacks against non-Muslim communities in Istanbul, Turkish mobs devastated the Greek, Armenian, and Jewish districts of the city, destroying and looting their places of worship, homes, businesses, cemeteries, and schools, among others.”
— “Murders of Jews: Yasef Yahya, a 39-year-old Jewish dentist was brutally murdered on August 21, 2003 in his office in the Şişli district of Istanbul, many Jewish lawyers and doctors in Istanbul removed the signs on their offices in order not to have the same fate as Yahya.”
This list of continued harassment and persecution of Jews and other minorities should be sent to the international media each time that the Turkish government misrepresents its record of mistreatment of the Jewish community in Turkey.
It is a shame that the Israeli government does not whisper a single word of criticism in the face of such persecution of fellow Jews in Turkey. On the contrary, Israeli officials cowardly buckle under pressure from Turkey to deny the Armenian Genocide and ban this crime against humanity from Israeli TV and academic conferences.
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Filed Under: Genocide, News Tagged With: Exposes, Jews, persecution, Turkish, writer

Yerevan The Turkish writer Kemal Yacin wants a copy of the Armenian Memorial in Ankara

October 14, 2015 By administrator

KEMAL YALCIN ( YAZAR ) - FOTO: VEDAT ARIK 23.08.2011

KEMAL YALCIN ( YAZAR ) – FOTO: VEDAT ARIK 23.08.2011

Teacher, journalist and writer, Kemal Yacin received several awards for his works, including Turkey. In 1981, he was forced to flee Turkey for political reasons.

As a student, he read in Turkish textbooks that Armenians were traitors.

Today, at a press conference in Yerevan, the writer hoped that one day the copy of the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial built in Turkey. After his visit, he said he was very shocked.

The first time he met an Armenian, was in Germany. A woman teacher Armenian from Istanbul. “Meline taught us all about different countries, but never anything about Armenia and Armenians,” he said. “When I asked her why she avoided speaking of his country and its people, she replied,” It is impossible to talk about our pain. “

Kemal Yacin devoted more than 5000 pages to the Armenian people and the Armenian genocide, but he says “I know it’s nothing compared to the suffering of the Armenian people. Do I carry this pain in my soul and I am aware that I still have to do a lot to support your just cause. “

The dream of the author is to see a copy of Tsitsernakaberd built in Ankara. “I want to see the Turks lay flowers at the memorial to the innocent victims every April 24 as do the Armenians,” he said.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015,
Jean Eckian © armenews.com

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Kemal Yacin, Turkish, writer

Turkey: PEN talks to writer Sevan Nişanyan Turkey’s Armenian minority intellectual

February 10, 2015 By administrator

Sevan Nişanyan is facing imprisonment for ‘denigrating religious values’ 

Sevan Nişanyan

Sevan Nişanyan is a controversial figure in Turkey for his harsh critiques of Kemalism, Islam as well as his outspoken opposition to the Turkish authorities’ refusal to acknowledge that there had been an Armenian genocide.

Sevan Nişanyan is a writer, linguist, hotelier and public intellectual from Turkey’s Armenian minority, whose etymological dictionaries, travel books and treatises on Turkish, Islamic and Anatolian culture have been widely hailed for their importance to contemporary Turkish cultural discourse. He is a controversial figure in Turkey for his harsh critiques of Kemalism (the ideology of the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk) and Islam as well as his outspoken opposition to the Turkish authorities’ refusal to acknowledge that there had been an Armenian genocide. Reported PEN

One of the biggest controversies in which Nişanyan has been involved relates to a blog post he made in September 2012. Writing in his personal blog, Nişanyan criticised the government’s call to introduce a new ‘hate speech’ bill in response to the release of the film The Innocence of Muslims.  The film led to widespread protests around the world as a result of its unflattering depiction of the prophet Muhammad.   Writing in defence of the right to freedom of expression, Nişanyan criticised the government’s attempts to prohibit criticism of the historical Muhammad.

Nişanyan’s blog post was deemed by the public prosecutor’s office to constitute religious defamation and he was charged under Article 216/3 of the Turkish Penal Code. On 22 May 2013, an Istanbul court found him guilty and he was sentenced to 15.5 months in prison. This conviction and prison sentence remains under appeal.

PEN International notes that Nişanyan faces further possible imprisonment as punishment for offending Turkey’s conservative elite and is gravely concerned that his conviction and sentence are motivated by animosity for his legitimate expression as a public intellectual. The organisation believes that Nişanyan’s comments fall well within the realm of legitimate historical and religious criticism and that his conviction for religious defamation is a violation of his right to freedom of expression as well as his right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion/belief. Both these rights are protected under Articles 18 and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Articles 9 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), to which Turkey is a state party.

Article 216/3 functions as a blasphemy law by criminalising the public ‘denigration’ of religious values.  This article has been criticised for affording different levels of protection to different religions or beliefs and for being applied in a discriminatory manner, particularly towards unorthodox, non-religious or anti-religious beliefs.  These concerns have been highlighted in the cases of renowned concert pianist and composer Fazil Say, and journalists Ceyda Karan and Hikmet Cetinkaya. PEN reiterates the comment made in the Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred regarding blasphemy laws: ‘The right to freedom of religion or belief, as enshrined in relevant international legal standards, does not include the right to have a religion or a belief that is free from criticism or ridicule’. PEN believes that the fundamental human right to freedom of expression guarantees the right to express critical views, even those that offend, shock or disturb. PEN calls on the Turkish authorities to repeal Article 216/3 and drop all cases against writers under this law for their legitimate expression.

The interview below was conducted with the help of Sait Çetinoğlu, who very kindly relayed PEN’s questions to Nişanyan in Yenipazar prison, where the Armenian-Turkish writer is currently serving a two-year sentence as a result of a separate construction dispute with the Turkish authorities.

A case was brought against you for a piece you wrote on your personal blog. What does the bringing of this case and the fact that you were convicted at its conclusion tell us about the state of freedom of expression in Turkey?

The blog piece for which I was prosecuted and convicted argued simply that disrespectful speech about an ancient Arab leader – implying the prophet of Islam – was a matter of free speech that should be under the protection of law. It employed mildly disrespectful language about the prophet to illustrate the point.

As a result I was attacked in vile language by a government minister, a top aide to the then prime minister, and the top religious official of the country; several newspapers launched a lynching campaign; I received hundreds of death threats; I was prosecuted in about a dozen courts around the country; and I was sentenced to 15.5 months in jail for blasphemy.

I believe the case illustrates how gravely free speech is imperilled in this country; at least as far as Islamic prejudices are concerned.

What did the court point to as its reasoning behind this decision?

The court made a rather tendentious attempt to base its decision on some precedents from the European Court of Human Rights. It also asserted, without evidence, that my blog piece “threatened public order”. It was necessary to add that bit to have a case under article 216 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes religious blasphemy where it threatens public order.

What was it about these arguments that you found objectionable and do you think they represent an undue restriction on your right to freedom of expression?

I believe this country, as well as the world at large, urgently needs a serious debate about the role of Islam in modern society. But that debate is impossible if every phrase that is contrary to the beliefs, prejudices, habits or sensitivities of the self-appointed spokesmen of Islam is going to be banned or prosecuted or greeted with paroxysms of rage.

What kind of impact do cases like these have on outspoken critics such as yourself as well as ordinary members of the public? 

The ordinary public is cowed. The outspoken critics are likely to hold out longer, but the spiralling pace of repression will eventually make many of them think again.

What kind of impact do such court cases have on your writing?

I have been in jail for a year now. That obviously has a dampening effect on one’s writing. I use the time to concentrate on my academic research, which is in historical linguistics.

Why is it important that forms of expression that offend, shock, disturb are worthy of protection?

Anything that is genuinely new for a society will by definition offend, shock or disturb. You cannot swim against the current of received opinion without touching the nerves of the owners of received opinion.

You could either let things run in their established rut, or else you must encourage and protect those who risk offense and shock by seeking new paths of thought. Some of offenders may be purveyors of junk. But you cannot expect to hear anything new unless you are prepared to tolerate a certain amount of junk.

In recent years, cases brought under Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code have been increasingly coming to prominence; indeed some have described Article 216 as Turkey’s new Article 301. What does this tell us about the way taboos have changed in Turkey in recent years?

Article 216 is actually a reasonably phrased piece of legislation. In a sane environment it could be used to penalize vilification campaigns against, for example, the Jews or other religious minorities. The problem is that most Turkish courts take it as their duty to uphold government authority at all costs against the claims of any individual or minority interest. Nationalism was the sacred cow of Turkish governments until 2002; so free thinkers and dissidents were prosecuted for touching that particular bovine. Now Islam is the sacred cow, and one must be careful not be irritate this one.

– See more at: http://www.pen-international.org/newsitems/turkey-pen-talks-to-writer-and-intellectual-sevan-nisanyan-who-is-facing-imprisonment-for-denigrating-religious-values/#sthash.KlXkDGRK.dpuf

Filed Under: Articles, Interviews Tagged With: imprisonment, linguist, Sevan Nişanyan, Turkey, writer

Ataturk Zombi Turkish writer Ayse Kulin “‘We Didn’t Butcher the Armenians without Reason”

January 27, 2015 By administrator

ayse-kulinTurkish writer Ayse Kulin’s statement on CNN Turk denying the Armenian Genocide and saying, “We did not butcher the Armenians without a reason,” has met with objections from different circles in Turkey and Armenian communities all over the world.

Some members of that community, as well as some prominent Turkish intellectuals, have launched a campaign on Change.org calling for boycotting the writer and not buying her books. The announcement in Turkish and English reads as follow:

“Very close to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, it is regrettable that such an irreverent style came from the mouth of a writer, Ayşe Kulin. In an interview with the media, in a very relaxed way, Kulin, by saying ”We did not butcher the Armenians without a reason,” underscored that they had the right to butcher a nation. We do not expect an apology from her or something in those words, we strongly condemn Ayse Kulin and reject her books and invite all people with common sense also not to read her books.”

ISTANBUL (CivilNet)—Appearing on Enver Aysever’s “Contradictory Questions” program on CNN Turk, well-known Turkish writer Ayse Kulin denied the Armenian Genocide took place and said “we did not butcher the Armenians without a reason.” Below is the transcript of that conversation in English.

AYSE KULIN: As a Turk, I feel responsibility and pain for not finding the perpetrators of Hrant Dink’s murder.

ENVER AYSEVER: But you are not the one who is governing the State.

AK: True, but that is my feeling.

EA: Do you share that pain?

AK: Yes, I share the pain. I live in this country, I always vote, yet I am not able to solve anything. Despite being an intellectual in Turkey, I cannot help to solve any problems. I am not able to express my feelings. I didn’t exist during the massacres of the Armenians, not even my mother [was alive]. That is why I do not feel responsibility, but that is one of the shameful events of my country, Turkey.

EA: You mean that you don’t feel responsibility for the deportation of Armenians?

AK: No, I don’t feel any responsibility and I don’t believe that it was a genocide, although it was a very bad event.

EA: You don’t think that what happened was genocide?

AK: No, I do not believe that it was genocide.

EA: But Armenians…

AK: Armenians may think it was.

EA: Armenians insist that it was a genocide. They might get angry.

AK: They might. I like Armenians very much, but those were deportations during the war. It is difficult to call what happened during the war genocide. They didn’t do anything to them like the Jews. We did not butcher the Armenians without a reason.

EA: You said “we” again, but they were the Ottomans.

AK: We too are Ottomans.

EA: Do you feel that way?

AK: Of course, we are the heirs of the Ottomans.

EA: Do you feel yourself an Ottoman or their heir?

AK: No, I am a daughter of the new Turkish Republic, but my generation is different. I grew up in my Ottoman grandfather’s arms.

Filed Under: Genocide, News Tagged With: Ayse-Kulin’s, butcher, Turkish, writer

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